How to Fix a Dent in a Car - Fix A Dent

Usually, progress up the car-building ladder is driven by necessity. It starts by just keeping that old beater on the road-learning to handle the simple maintenance and repairs that otherwise would have that old iron squeezing the wallet harder than a new car payment. Next comes tuning and tweaking, and hey, you're getting pretty good at this. With time we get into more ambitious projects, bolting together that killer mill or chassis. Finally, we become invincible. Every trashed-out hulk is seen as potential street machine fodder. That cast-away Nova in line at the crusher can be next year's show stopper. At this stage of the game, you're limited only by your imagination and skill...and, oh, yeah, those ever-scarce greenbacks.

Little in the car builder's arsenal can advance a project's possibilities more than some know-how in panel and paint work. The flip side is that metal mastery is hard earned. Look, learn, listen, and read all you can-but finally you must do. Years ago, the tools of the trade required a serious investment and the materials were awkward to work with, but today, jumping into the fray with some of the basics will pay off immediately. Once the craft is mastered, you'll never look at a derelict street machine the same way.